Primeur founders to open new London restaurant

Jeremie Cometto-Lingenheim and David Gingell, founders of Primeur restaurant on London’s Petherton Road, are to open a new venture called Westerns Laundry.

The restaurant, in Drayton Park, Lower Holloway, will be housed in a 1950s building, a short distance from Highbury and Islington.

The menu will focus on seafood and dishes made with British produce.

Gingell will work with day boats from Devon and Cornwall to source his seafood, with typical dishes including: sea bass and seaweed tartare (£7.5); raw scallop with Le Coste olive oil (£8); sardines, salted in house (£3.5) and chargrilled mackerel served with miso and chilli (£11).

Working with a small collective of farms in North Yorkshire, plates from the land will include: pork loin, chopped greens, basil and capers (£12); and beef rump with roast garlic butter and croutons (£16).

Gingell said: “Westerns Laundry will be lighter and more delicate than Primeur, rooted in British flavours but influenced by our favourite aspects of Southern Europe with the occasional nod to Asia, with raw fish, shellfish and smoky flavours from a Robata grill. Working so closely with our suppliers means that we can create dishes that let the ingredients shine, without over complicating the cooking.”

An exposed cellar, housing Westerns Laundry’s wine offering will sit within the restaurant, containing a wine selection of over 200 bottles, with a focus on low intervention, small scale international producers.